The Nanny
by ladybugbirdie42
Summary: Down on his luck, Marco has a chance encounter with a little kid that ends up changing his life forever. Whether in a good way or a bad way remains to be seen. All that he knows right now is that he's stuck being a nanny for three rich brats (though they aren't exactly your typical kids). What could possibly go wrong?
1. The Beginning

**Inspired by Jessie (yes, as in the Disney show)**

* * *

Marco sighed and brushed himself off as he stood up from where the taxi driver had unceremoniously dumped him on the side of the street after realizing Marco had no money.

Well, he made it farther than he'd thought would.

The revolving doors of the building he'd been discarded outside of spun as a blur of color—screaming something about demon children, of all things—came flying out the building and past Marco down the street.

A small child had followed the person out of the building and stood, just outside the door, waving cheerfully as he said, "Bye-bye, Ms. Nanny Lady!"

Unfortunately, since the lady had run off in Marco's direction, it put Marco directly in the kid's line of sight.

"Whoa!"

Marco cringed and stepped back, hoping to avoid a conversation with the kid, but the kid practically launched himself at Marco.

"Your head looks just like a pineapple! That's so cool!"

Marco's eye twitched, even as he felt a pang of sadness at the memory of a different, even more obnoxious, voice saying the same thing.

The child was babbling about something, but Marco wasn't really listening, lost in his own darker thoughts.

"Hey, hey! Do you want to be my new nanny?"

Marco's train of thought came to a screeching halt, and he stared at the kid incredulously. "What?!"

* * *

The kid was way more stubborn and persistent than he had any right to be. He just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

And so, Marco found himself standing in an excessively fancy elevator with an excessively energetic kid.

After practically an eternity (why did this building have so many blasted floors?), the elevator doors opened directly into the living room of a huge penthouse, and Marco felt his jaw drop.

The kid was loaded. Of course, the kid was loaded. Why had he thought otherwise?

Probably because of that tattered straw hat he was wearing and the general raggedness of his clothes.

But on the other hand, Marco should have known because just anyone could even afford to live in this building, let alone the top floor. And the kid apparently had a nanny (well, used to, since she just ran out). Only people with money could afford to have nannies.

So, yeah, Marco felt kind of stupid about being so surprised upon seeing the kid's home.

Speaking of the kid, he wasn't even trying to hide his giggling at Marco's stupefied expression. "You gotta come out of the elevator, silly, or else it's gonna close and then you can't come back 'cuz ya hafta have the key and I don't want you to never come back 'cuz I want you to stay here."

Marco shook himself out of his shocked state and complied even though he still wasn't so sure about this whole staying here thing. Particularly the part about being a nanny. Or, really, this whole situation in general.

This whole thing seemed off to him. Some little rich brat had just invited him in off the streets and even offered him a job (which Marco was sure he was way too young to be offering in the first place; kids weren't typically employers) for absolutely no reason whatsoever. He couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.

But then again, he thought, looking at the kid who was beaming up at him, he probably shouldn't be so suspicious of a _seven-year-old_.

"Luffy!"

Marco jerked back in surprise. He'd thought they were alone.

Looking over the railing of the second floor were two other boys who looked to be a bit older than the kid (who was apparently named Luffy).

One of them had dark hair and looked a lot like Luffy, except for the freckles. He was glaring down at them—mostly Marco. The other had curly blond hair and seemed less openly hostile, looking at Marco with curiosity more than anything.

"How many times have we told you not to run off by yourself?!" the freckled one was yelling at the kid—Luffy, Marco reminded himself; he couldn't keep referring to him as 'kid' when there were now three.

"I was saying bye to Ms. Nanny Lady," Luffy explained, clearly not seeing the problem.

"Luffy, who's that?" the blond cut in before the freckled kid could start yelling again.

"Our new nanny!" he exclaimed cheerfully, clearly unaffected by the glare (Marco was pretty sure it had increased in intensity, if that was even possible) being leveled at them.

"A guy can't be a nanny," Freckles snapped (and Marco secretly agreed, wondering why he was even here in the first place).

"Why not?"

"Because they just can't!" Apparently seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere trying to argue this point, Freckles decided to change strategies. "And what have we told you about picking up random strangers off the street?!"

Luffy pouted. "But he's not a stranger."

Marco had to raise an eyebrow at that. He certainly didn't know the kid. And he highly doubted Luffy actually knew who he was.

Apparently, the other two thought the same thing because their eyebrows were also raised.

"Do you even know his name, Luffy?" Blondie asked.

Marco was surprised when the kid nodded.

Until he heard Luffy's answer. "He's Pineapple Head!"

Both older kids groaned as they face-palmed while Marco tried to squash his annoyance, reminding himself that he _really_ shouldn't have expected anything else.

"I don't think that's his name, Lu" the blond kid said, exasperation clear in his tone.

"See? You don't even know his name," Freckles pointed out. "He can't be our nanny."

Marco wasn't sure that logic was quite right, but he wasn't going to say anything. If it kept him from being forced into being this kid's nanny, he certainly wasn't going to argue against it.

Unfortunately, Luffy wasn't ready to give up ( _why was this kid so freakin' stubborn?_ ). He crossed his arms and scowled up at the other two. "But I want him to be our new nanny."

Marco sighed. This wasn't going anywhere.

He had to give credit to the other two, though. They didn't give up easily.

"But you don't even know him!" Freckles repeated.

Blondie nodded, taking up the reigns. "Yeah, Lu. We don't if we can trust him. He could be dangerous."

Luffy frowned at them before turning to look at Marco. "Are you going to hurt me?"

"No," Marco answered honestly, and Luffy beamed up at his brothers, triumphant.

"But," Marco continued, because the kid's brothers (he assumed that's what they were) were right, and he needed to make sure Luffy knew this so he didn't get himself hurt, "there are plenty of people that would, so you need to be careful. You can't just invite random people you don't know to your house. It's dangerous."

Luffy deflated slightly, not looking so triumphant anymore. "Okay…" he mumbled.

The older two were staring down at Marco with wide eyes.

"He actually listened to you?" the freckled one said like he didn't believe it.

"Huh," the blond one said thoughtfully, "I guess you can stay. For now, at least."

Freckles nodded reluctantly. "At least until the old geezer comes home. He's the one who gets to decide if you actually get a job or not."

Marco was about to decline and tell them he didn't actually want the job in the first place when the kid cheered and then attached himself to Marco's leg.

Marco sighed again, suddenly feeling too tired to even try to pry the kid off his leg.

Well, it wasn't as if he had anywhere else to go.

And at least this way he'd actually have a place to stay.

So apparently he was going to be a nanny. At least for now.


	2. The Grandfather

**The second chapter! Written in a reasonable amount of time! How rare!**

 **Beware of excessive usage of parentheses (I'm so sorry)**

* * *

They'd somehow managed to pull him into a "wrestling match" (Marco would use the term "wrestling" loosely, as he was pretty sure very of little of this could actually be called wrestling, but what did he know?), though it was pretty one-sided considering Marco wasn't even trying (he'd never actually fought kids before and wasn't sure how much force he could use without hurting him), earning him no end of complaints from the three brats sitting on top of him (they'd gotten bored by this point).

It was about this time that the elevator dinged, signaling the arrival of someone, and the kids all immediately jumped off him. He would have been more relieved if not for the alarm that was clear on all of their faces.

"Get up! We gotta hide," Ace hissed as he and Sabo started tugging on Marco's arms.

Marco _really_ didn't want to get up (if it was someone dangerous, he could take them, probably), but the kids weren't exactly giving him a choice (and he had learned within about five seconds that trying to argue was a waste of time), so he obliged.

"Hurry! Before the doors open," Sabo urged.

Great, they wanted him to run too.

Luffy was already halfway up the stairs, making wild gestures, so Marco followed him up at a light jog just to appease them.

He pressed himself against the wall, looking down at Ace, Sabo, and Luffy as they peeked around the corner with surprisingly serious expressions.

"Why exactly are we hiding, yoi?" he asked. He was still trying to decide if he should actually be worried or not.

"Grandpa's home," Luffy answered in what was probably supposed to be a whisper, but being quiet was evidently not one of his strong suits (another thing Marco had learned quickly).

Marco raised an eyebrow at that. He obviously didn't see why that meant they needed to hide, because of course he didn't.

"Well, if that's your grandfather, then I should go talk to him, yoi."

They all stared at him like he was crazy.

He ignored their stares, finding this entire situation to be ridiculous, but as soon as he took a step forward, they all moved to block his way.

"Where are you going?!"

He sighed. "Your grandfather is your caretaker, right? Then I have to get permission from him if you want me to stay here."

"It's your funeral," he heard Ace mutter as he stepped around them.

Personally, he thought they were all being a little overdramatic.

As soon as he was able to see the living room, though, he blanched and ran right back to the cover of the wall.

The looks the kids were giving him were a weird mixture of confusion and told-you-so.

"You didn't tell me your grandfather is Garp!"

They gave him weird looks. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to mean that he was supposed to know or that they didn't understand the significance of who their grandfather was.

"Listen." Marco dragged his hand down his face. This had to be worst possible scenario. "Maybe don't get your hopes up about me staying here." Yeah, there was no way Garp was going to allow it.

"Why—"

"There you brats are!"

They all jumped at the sudden proximity of the booming voice, letting out undignified shrieks (Marco absolutely did _not_ scream; he was a grown man, for Pete's sake).

The kids tried to run, but Garp somehow managed to pick up all three of them at once. Marco also considered trying to run since the old man's focus seemed to be solely on his grandkids, but that seemed like a really good way to draw attention to himself, which was the last thing he needed.

"Is that any way to greet your grandpa?!" Garp demanded, shaking them.

"It's 'cuz no one wants to see you, old man!" Ace shot back.

The whole thing devolved into a shouting match between Garp and his three grandsons rather quickly, and, realizing that he had been completely forgotten for the moment, Marco slowly edged away, trying not to draw attention to himself.

He needed to leave. Now.

Unfortunately, he apparently wasn't quite as stealthy as he thought he was.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Sabo called to him, which of course drew _all_ the attention to _him_.

Great.

"Traitor!" Luffy was quick to add on.

"Come back here!" Ace struggled against Garp's hold. "Don't leave us alone with _him_!"

"Hey! Don't talk about your grandfather like that!" Garp ordered Ace, but he was looking at Marco now. He put his grandkids down (though it was more like he dropped them), eyeing Marco. "Who are you, brat?"

"He's our new nanny," Luffy piped up before anyone else could.

"You brats run the last one off already?"

"She was weak," Ace stated around the same time Sabo said, "It's not our fault she couldn't handle a little prank."

That earned them a loud laugh from their grandfather. Marco could already see where the complete lack of discipline came from. He was pretty sure Garp was not supposed to encourage these kinds of things.

Garp's focus shifted back to him. Marco tensed. This was it. The next few seconds would determine his fate. At best he'd be kicked out. At worst (and more likely) he'd be cuffed and dragged down to police headquarters.

"Well, then," Garp closed the distance between them faster than Marco thought should've been possible and clapped a hand on Marco's shoulder. "Take good care of them."

"Excuse me?" Had he really not recognized him? Marco knew most people wouldn't know who he was, but if anybody should know, it was the Police Chief.

"That's your job, isn't it?"

"That's it, yoi?" Why were they all looking at him like _he_ was the weird one? "Just like that? No interview or anything." He felt the need to clarify since none of them seemed to see the problem. "That's it." Unbelievable. Why was everyone in the house crazy?

"You want an interview? Alright, then. You think you can handle them?" Garp gestured vaguely in the direction of the kids.

No. "Yes."

"Well, there you go. You're hired," Garp said as if that one question had solved anything.

(Marco realized later that he was supposed to have tried to get out of this job. Well, guess he's officially stuck with it now.)

* * *

 **Wow, I can't believe that Marco already loves the ASL bros so much that he forgot he didn't want this job (or more like, he got caught up in their weirdness and forgot, but, yeah, that too). I don't know why he's complaining, though. He's getting paid and he gets to live in a fancy place and he gets to hang out with the cool kids.**


	3. The Housekeeper

**Happy birthday to my coolest sister!**

* * *

"Who are you?!"

Funny, Marco was wondering the same thing.

"He's our new nanny!" Luffy answered cheerfully.

And Marco wondered how many times they were going to have to go through this.

"New?! What happened to the old one?!"

"She ran off," Ace informed her.

"Again?!" Marco was pretty sure he heard her mutter, "Can't really blame her…" before she continued yelling, "I leave for a couple hours to go grocery shopping, and you run off another nanny?! Why can't you brats just behave yourselves?! That's the fifth one so far this year! We're gonna run out of people to hire, and then _I'm_ gonna be stuck taking care of you!"

Why was everybody in this household so _loud_?

The huge bear of a woman suddenly turned her glare on Marco. "Does Garp know about this?!" she demanded.

"He's already met him," Ace answered.

The woman muttered something under her breath and stalked off to another room (the kitchen, probably, if Marco remembered correctly from the tour of the penthouse he'd gotten earlier).

"Who was that?" he asked, staring after her.

"That's just Dadan!" Luffy laughed. "Don't worry! She's always like that."

Yeah, that wasn't really helpful.

"She's like the housekeeper, I guess?" Sabo elaborated. "I don't know. She cooks and cleans and stuff."

Ace snorted. "Yeah, when she's not sleeping or drinking."

Marco wasn't going to ask.

* * *

Following after Dadan confirmed that she had indeed gone to the kitchen where she was in the process of putting away all the groceries rather aggressively. In the very brief time since he had previously seen her she had managed to light five cigarettes which she was somehow smoking all at once.

That…couldn't be healthy.

Yeah, Marco was probably going to regret his choice of trying to properly introduce himself, considering how that had gone last time.

He stuck out his hand anyway. There was no way he was about to back down. She wasn't anywhere near the scariest person he'd ever met (that award went to the kids' grandfather).

Dadan paused long enough to scowl down at his hand and then direct her glare directly at him. She didn't make any move to return the greeting.

"I didn't get to introduce myself earlier. My name's Marco," he said anyway.

"Don't care," was the response he got. "You're not gonna be around long enough for me to bother learning your name."

"I might be."

She snorted. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

Marco watched as Luffy stared intently at the board, face screwed up in concentration as he moved his game piece, counting the spaces under his breath.

Marco had tried to sit the game out with the excuse that he didn't know how to play, but the kids had dragged him in anyway (something that was quickly becoming a recurring experience).

Admittedly, he probably should've been paying more attention so he could actually figure out the rules of the game, but apparently he had opted for the don't-even-bother-to-try route.

"I don't think Dadan likes me very much," Marco said as Sabo rolled the dice.

"Dadan doesn't like anyone," Ace informed him. "That's $600, Sabo. Pay up."

"Yeah," Luffy piped up while Sabo shot a glare Ace's way, "She always complains about us. And Grandpa too. She says she hates it here." He sounded way too cheerful considering what he was saying.

"Quit lying, Ace. You have one house. There's no way it's $600," Sabo flatly stated, crossing his arms.

"It's prime real estate," Ace defended.

"It's Baltic Avenue."

"Then why doesn't she leave?" Marco asked, ignoring the two squabbling kids.

"I don't think she can," Sabo broke off from his argument long enough to answer. "I'm pretty sure Gramps makes her work here in exchange for not turning her in."

"She's a criminal?" Marco clarified with a sinking feeling. That would mean he was in the same position as her.

A collective nod from the kids confirmed his worst fears.

"Is that…legal?"

All he got was a collective shrug before the kids turned back to their board game, leaving Marco to his own worries.

He hadn't been able to believe that Garp hadn't recognized him, but he hadn't asked because he wasn't about to run the risk of exposing himself on the off-chance that the crazy old man really hadn't realized who he was. And he'd figured Garp hadn't, because there was no way anyone in their right mind would actually hire a wanted criminal to take care of their kids—is what he had thought.

But if what the kids had said about Dadan was true, then Garp likely _did_ know who he was, and Marco had unwittingly trapped himself. Marco couldn't leave—unless he wanted to be thrown in jail, which he didn't.

How could such a crazy old man be so smart? Although, Marco amended, maybe he wasn't all _that_ smart if he was leaving his grandkids alone with dangerous criminals.

He couldn't really dwell on it any further, though, because Ace threw the dice at him.

"It's your turn."

Marco sighed and rolled the dice. There really wasn't any point in dwelling on it. His window of opportunity to escape this job had already closed a long time ago. Besides, he had technically accepted the before he had even met Garp, so really, this was all his own fault.

And, he could reluctantly admit, even though it hadn't even been a full day yet, he had become kind of attached to these kids, even if he still didn't think babysitting suited him (though he could certainly think of a few people who would tell him that no job suited him more).

Another thought came to him as he started moving his piece.

"Does it scare you? Having a criminal in the house?" Make that two, actually. He felt bad for being so caught up in his own situation that he hadn't even stopped to think about how the kids might feel about it.

Ace scoffed. "Who would be scared of Dadan?"

Well, then.

Marco's piece landed on a square with a big question mark on it (which was a pretty good representation of how he'd felt this whole game).

"That's 'Chance'," Sabo apparently took pity on him enough to explain, though Marco knew the kid thought he was pretty stupid for needing something that should've been obvious explained to him. "You have to draw a card from the 'Chance' pile."

"I wanna read it!" Luffy shouted, and Marco handed the card over.

"You're going to jail."

Man, he hoped not.


End file.
